Advertisers to move budgets online in 2009

The current economic issues don't need introducing, and advertisers are already hurting early in 2009 despite strong sales after Christmas, with margins drastically slashed to move stock. So what will happen to advertising budgets this year?

Chances are they will be reduced somewhat, but more importantly I'm predicting a pretty big push online where they can track and report on performance (on the fly) with a smaller budget. Marketing managers will be under the pump this year to push stock and deliver results on those reduced budgets, I'm sure they will be looking for accountability and analytics for every dollar spent.

My first thought is a push towards affiliate marketing, SEO & SEM to get the best bang for your buck - all completely accountable and instantly changeable with the general day to day requirements. Then, you'd be looking to push some money into low investment Social Media leverage, partnering with strong social influencers in each of your targeted networks.

Then followed by setting up YouTube channels, Facebook pages and Twitter feeds to leverage a low cost high reward angle - these channels provide free promotional avenues for the advertiser and with some strategic (fun) content (plus a few cool page additives and or widgets for your page friends) and you'll start to see traffic heading your way. Note - you'll need to dedicate the time to manage and build these, but they will reward you.

Viral will play a much bigger role this year, and I'm sure a lot of agencies will cringe with the briefs already rolling in... "I need a cheap viral to promote this..." which is about the most in depth viral brief I've ever seen!

I'd be thinking along the lines of 20-30% increase in (above predicted) online spend this year with companies and then agencies moving advertising dollars online to deliver the results. SEO will again be undervalued in Australia, even though it's a buzz word for most clients now, it's going to be another 1-2 years before all the big brands wake up to the need for natural ranking.

If you'd like more creative focused ideas, the latest online campaigns and anything digital, check out my new (more creative blog) at Digital Buzz Blog .com

Best New TV Ads - Audi Q5 Ad

Part of the Best New TV Ad's section - The New Audi Q5 ad is fantastic. I love everything about it. Even the sound track leaves you inspired.

New Audi Q5 Ad & SEO in Major Ad Campaigns

I wanted to showcase the new The New Audi Q5 Ad Campaign. But with my research of the new Q5, I thought we better talk about something else first!

Big brands, Big agencies, take notice. So you've got a product, and a great campaign, you've spent huge amounts of time, resources and most of all "far to much money" to make this launch the next big thing! The print is amazing, website outstanding and the TV ad one of the best you've ever produced, you PR agency is on fire, and your billboards are captivating. It's done! It's live. Your over the moon, and so is your agency (because they are probably going to win awards!). So what happens when the world starts to see that campaign?

The search for it. They Google it mainly, but hey, some people still use Yahoo, even Live search. But where do you rank? Hopefully right at the top because it's your product, your brand...

Not so with the latest campaign from Audi - The New Audi Q5.
The new Audi Q5 campaign is a work of art, but the Q5's costing Audi a lot of lost traffic right now and all that media spend rushing down the drain faster than that premium beer into the agency staff's mouths!

Sure, the media company that's looking after the New Q5 is probably buying search terms (things like New Q5, Q5, Audi Q5, New Audi Q5) in each local country where the campaign is running (Didn't see any in Australia), but they shouldn't need to. Certainly not on the actual car name!

Here is the amazing ad:
You would see that, and probably Google "Audi Q5" right?


Interesting to note, is that the only time Audi ranks for it's own website / Q5 combo - is when you type "New Audi Q5" and even then it's the .co.uk site followed by other industry magazines / forums before getting to the Audi US site... But, Audi has a dedicated campaign website for the Q5. And that is nowhere to be seen in search engine results.

Q5 Doesn't rank at all in Australia yet, probably because the car isn't here. But if it was me, i'd be getting ready for that day right now, so by the time it launches your already ranking No.1... (oh and don't get me wrong, by the time this article has been up for a few weeks, they probably will rank all across the web)

This isn't an isolated case. There are plenty of big brands and big agencies missing the cue when it comes to ensuring the brands website ranks no.1 for it's products come launch date. So my advice is, get basic holding pages up (internally or on your microsite URL) that can start to develop your ranking for your key future campaigns (where they are not confidential) you don't need specific product info, but you do need enough of a blurb to suffice the search engines, and give all those (in this case) motoring magazines a place to link to when they are writing about your upcoming car :)

Anyway, back to the Audi Q5's campaign.
I Love the TV ad and the website is even better.

Best New TV Ads - Tooheys Carb Relief

I thought I'd also start posting the best new tv ads when ever I can, so here goes! One of the latest ads out from Tooheys is the Carb Relief Campaign, it's hard to say if it's actually one of the best new tv ads or if its one huge letdown in comparison with some of their previous tv ads?

The Full Version:


The 60sec Version:


Assorted 15sec Trails:






Well, that's round one of the best new tv ads!

The True History Of AFL

The true history of AFL - who would have thought there was such a thing! (i'm an NRL fan!) I read a great post on Adverblog talking about the true history of the AFL, and it's parody/spoof ad that was made about it and I couldn't stop laughing!

Check out the AFL true history ad campaign below.

The $100,000 Social Experiment

Have you ever seen what kind of interest $100,000 generates? Find out below, possibly one of the smartest gorilla/viral style campaigns I've seen in a long time :) Shame it didn't go the extra step I was hoping for though!

Vimeo - I'm In love...

It's about time I threw a vimeo clip on here. I'm in love with this site, if Google or Microsoft don't buy this soon I'd be amazed! Great site design, even better video quality, super fast streaming. What more could you want? I'll post more on vimeo technology and it's success later, but for now here is a great spoof clip:

Wii Wario Land Shake It Campaign

Check out this ground breaking YouTube online advertising campaign for Nintendo Wii - Wario Land - Shake it! This is a FIRST in terms of utilising YouTube's interface in a completely immersive way to promote a product of any sort. There have been a few other similar ideas laying around the place, but nothing like this has ever been created on YouTube.



The new online advertising campaign started late september and has taken YouTube by storm, getting about 3million views in less than 2 weeks! No doubt this will be the start of many big ad campaigns filtering into YouTube channels...

New - Diesel's Dirty 30 party

It's that time of year and it's a big one! Diesel is having it's 30th Birthday Party - Dirty Style! And if the Diesel Viral Video is anything to go by, it's going to be one hell of a party. It's going to be live around the world in 17 cities.!

Check out the Diesel Dirty 30 Birthday Party Website below for more details :)

New Posts Coming Soon!

Well, I'm back from Thailand, relaxed and ready to fight my way back into the working life! So stay tuned, I'll be starting to post with a might higher frequency from July onwards (which won't be hard based on my last 6 months online!).

Things like:

• Best Practice E-Commerce Strategy
• Best Practice Email Communication
• Best Practice Online Advertising Campaigns
• Any may many more articles...

Google Site Seach In Organic Results

I'm wondering if I've been hiding under a rock or just completely missed the whole google "site search box" magically appearing under selected websites "site links" in Google's organic results. At first it feels a bit confusing that there are now 2 search boxes within pixels of each other - but then I start to see this is an ingenious idea - saving users considerable time and effort. But, is it only for affiliated Google sites like Wiki and Dmoz? Because I don't see this same functionality for websites that are used almost exclusively for search like Yellow Pages...?

Search Marketing Strategy Tip #1 (SEM)

Search Marketing Strategy Tips are great, everyone gives them, even Google them selves give out SEM tips, tricks and best practice ideas! But not everyone gives you functional, industry Search Marketing Strategy Tips & Advice. So I thought I might start a bit of a trend and give SEM tips & advice based on current, live examples! So here we go;

Search Marketing Strategy Tip #1: Don't Sponsor Your Business/Company Name. But before you kick and scream for your brand, hear me out!

The basic benefits of search marketing are pretty clear, you get highly targeted traffic and you only pay per click! (not per impression) So the more popular the keywords you choose are, the more money (clicks) you'll spend on a Search Marketing Campaign.

Now, half the reason you probably started search marketing was to get a greater (targeted) exposure for minimal cost to your marketing budget. Now, your Search Marketing Strategy probably includes sponsoring your own business name to ensure anyone looking for you, gets straight to your website! Right?

Thought so, NOW STOP IT - turn that keyword off!
Search Marketing Campaigns and Search Engine Optimisation should work hand in hand and if they don't you're spending a lot of valuable money on a something very easy to do - for free.

Now, when I say "don't sponsor your business/company name" I mean, don't!! If you Google your business name/company name, you should come up in first place for your exact name. (if you don't then, you better email me!)

Now going off (2) key issues with Search Marketing;

1. Lazy Searchers (people who always click the first listing and don't really read it)
2. Credibility Searchers (people who only click paid ads as this think they are trusted)

So what you have here, is probably 70% of all users now clicking on your paid Ad, when just a few pixels below your free Ad is sitting there waiting to be clicked. And because your paid ad is nicely highlighted by Google / Yahoo / NineMSN above your natural listing - you're spending perhaps... $1 - $2 - $4 - $7 per click on your own business name?

Lets make a modest calculation - say $2 per click (probably much more) for a popular business name like - eTrade. A popular, world wide online share trading platform! Lets say in Australia alone, they are searched for, and clicked - 100? 200? lets say 300 times per day...

So 300 clicks per day x $2 a click is a $600 per day Search Marketing Campaign spend. Just on your own business name. Now seeing that eTrade is ranked No.1 for their business name they will start getting upset once we times the $600 per day x 7 days = $4,200. Times $4,200 x 4 is $16,800 per month which turns out to be whopping $201,600 per year spend on just your business name!

I guarantee you, if eTrade's marketing managers (or more importantly their MD/CEO) looked closely at this instead of listening to their Advertising Agency or Google / Yahoo them selves - they would be on shocked to find out the amount of money they would have saved for use in other mediums.

So below lets view a bunch of top companies with Australian websites that are throwing away hundres of thousands of dollars to Search Engines advertisng their own name, when they already rank in the number 1 position!

eTrade: (Search Marketing Strategy Tips - Don't Sponsor Your Business Name)

Roses Only: (Search Marketing Strategy Tips - Don't Sponsor Your Business Name)

Optus: (Search Marketing Strategy Tips - Don't Sponsor Your Business Name)

Virgin Mobile: (Search Marketing Strategy Tips - Don't Sponsor Your Business Name)

Nokia: (Search Marketing Strategy Tips - Don't Sponsor Your Business Name)

Holden: (Search Marketing Strategy Tips - Don't Sponsor Your Business Name)

Babies Galore: (Search Marketing Strategy Tips - Don't Sponsor Your Business Name)

Samsung: (Search Marketing Strategy Tips - Don't Sponsor Your Business Name)

So, there you have it - Search Marketing Strategy Tip #1 - Don't Sponsor Your Business Name! Get your agency to be more strategic - sure, you're business name will get great click through rates, better conversions and more traffic - BUT - you're already ranked number 1 anyway, so don't throw your marketing budget away, keep that money and invest that saving back into some form of online advertising!

Search Marketing Strategy Tip #2 Coming soon!

Make My Logo Bigger Viral

Virals are great, but when they are made about sections of your own industry they are even better. Check out Make My Logo Bigger Cream and see for your self how your clients can ensure their logos are bigger!

Rodney Clark Website

Just a quick update here before we move on to more strategic matters, IdeaWorks Interactive has just launched (2) new sites for Rodney Clark. The first being a re-vamp of their previous flash site into a stylish CSS layout and the second being an interactive version of their catalogue.

Check them out below:
http://www.rodneyclark.com.au/
http://www.feelthedifference.com.au/

Frozen In Grand Central Station

Great little piece here, 200+ people gather and get involved in a plan to spend 5 minutes standing completely still (I'm assuming they are all amature actors) and in sync, they stand frozen together creating a very cool display.

Enjoy.

Microsoft Bids To Buy Yahoo! Inc

Google's D-Day is nearing, well - at least a day in which there may be an actual "competitor" in the market place for them to compete with. So Microsoft have finally done the inevitable - launching a takeover bid for Yahoo! Inc.

You'll see in my previous post some time back - "Microsoft to become a real Google competitor" that I was predicting the only company to possibly challenge Google, would be a Microsoft Super Company... Buying out the likes of Yahoo! & AOL.

So here is it, the official press release and $31 per share offer to buy out Yahoo! Inc. Official Microsoft Press Release - To Buy Yahoo!

What will the future now hold? Well if this goes through, then microsoft will be officially the largest "by far" super company in the world. The power that a company like that brings to the table is enormous, but will they have the smarts to out play Google?

Small Budget Visual Effects Look Big

To kick off the year I just had a quick look through a stack of new work across various websites and came across this incredible video clip on Adverblog. The making of a low budget WWII documentary for the BBC. And the thing that's highlighted is the creativity of the producers and everyone involved. Check it out below and I promiss you will be impressed :)


So take this on board if your out shooting small commercials, or more likely new low budget viral ads. Enjoy.

Top Online Viral Campaigns

Incase you didn't know where or how to rate you latest viral campaign - here is where and how! It's called Viral Video Chart and it tracks the top 20 viral videos across the internet, so if your on there you're doing pretty dam fine!

Ok sure, this won't track your standard campaign but it will certianly give you the latest and greatest virals floating around over the last week, month, year...

BIG W - New Live Big For Less Campaign

In possibly the largest integrated campaign undertaken by a single ad agency in Australia to date, IdeaWorks today launches the new BIG W brand across all consumer touchpoints. In doing so, there have been some amazing feats undertaken, from a brilliant new Brand ID component - created by Glen Barry (Head of Brand Identity @ IdeaWorks) which has evolved through the entire campaign into touchpoints like;

• New TV Brand Campaign
• Press Campaign
• Catalogue Design & Production
• Environment & Store Design
• Instore Communications & POS
• Website Strategy, Design & Development
• Online Communications (eDM's .etc)
• Internal Big W Communications

On the interactive side of the campaign, we have taken BIG W into a whole new world online by creating a really fresh, totally CSS based design for the new BIG W website that will be enjoyed by all users. There was an amazing amount of work involved in this re-design from strategic planning right through to detailed usability design & testing. The project had a great level of difficulity to enhance the brand online, while staying true to the simplicity and freshness of the new branding, something that's great testimate the the designers in my team.

We've also created a Live Big For Less microsite showcasing the Brand TVC's to BIG W staff and suppliers. This microsite has not been created for the general public, but more for the suppliers and staff to give them access to the campaign before it was seen on TV. It's also a great reference point for anyone wanting to experience the new brand and its message.

So feel free visit http://www.livebigforless.com.au/ and enjoy the new TVC's.

In other areas we have created strategic eDM and online communication touchpoints that will be experienced in the coming weeks to months as the entire campaign rolls out, along with some fantastic instore communication work that will also roll out. Enjoy the campaign.